Container



CONTAINER Filed Oct. 19, 1955 INVENTOR.

United States Patent CONTAINER I Arnold C. Martinelli; Amherst, Mass; assignor'toRogers Plastic Corporation, West Warren, Mass a corporation of Massachusetts Application October 19, 1953, Serial No. 386,749

1 Claim. (Cl. 150-.5)

This invention relates to a container and closure therefor wherein the container has an open mouth and the closure frictionally engages the container so as to tightly seal the same.

The principal objects of the invention are directed to the provision of a container and closure or cover therefor wherein the container is of the open mouth type h-av ing a rim or ring therearound which is receivable in a groove provided in the closure.

As a special feature of the invention, the closure or cover is provided with walls which resiliently and frictionally embrace the ring or rim of the container, thereby to provide a tight seal.

The cooperating parts of the closure and container are formed to provide a tight non-leakable seal while, at the same time, the construction is such that the closure may be readily applied to the container and removed therefrom.

All of the above objects I accomplish by means of such structure and relative arrangements of parts thereof, as will fully appear by a perusual of the description below and by various specific features which will be hereinafter set forth.

To the above cited and other ends and with the foregoing and various other novel features and advantages and other objects of my invention as will become more readily apparent as the description proceeds, my invention consists in certain novel features of construction and in the combination and arrangement of parts as will be hereinafter more particularly pointed out in the claim hereunto annexed and more fully described and referred to in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

Figs. 1 and 2 are plan and side elevational views of a container embodying the novel features of the invention;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical sectional view on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged vertical view through an edge of the closure shown in Fig. l; and

Fig. 5 is a similar view through the container.

Referring to the drawings more in detail, I have shown a container and a closure or cover which are represented by 4 and 6 and while shown as being circular in shape the novel features of the invention are applicable to other shapes as well.

The closure or cover 6 is formed to have a bead portion 8 with a transverse wall 19 disposed downwardly vertically therefrom in a plane below the plane of the uppermost side of the bead.

The closure is provided with an open upwardly extending peripheral groove 12, there being an outer wall 14 and an inner wall 16 at opposite sides of the groove.

The lower end of the wall 14 of the closure curves slightly outwardly as shown to provide what may be called a lower annular lip 14'.

Above the lip an annular shoulder 18 is provided which is of relatively narrow transive width.

The upper open end of the container 4 is provided with a vertically disposed annular rim 26 which is offset out- 2: wardly relative to the'sidewall 4' a the container, as shown in Fig. 5.

The rim 26 is so arranged relative to 'the .wall .4' aslto provide an upper inner annularshoulder 28and 'aTlo'wer outer shoulder 30. The inner and outer sides of the rim are in substantial vertical parallelism.

The container 4 may be formed from glass, plastic or other material and will be relatively stiff and rigid. It may be pliable to some extent, but will be such as to provide more rigidity than the closure.

The closure or cover 6 will be formed from material that is somewhat resilient and pliable. The material will preferably be plastic such as polyethylene which is pliable and flexible and shape retaining.

The closure is assembled with the container by pressing it downwardly so that the rim 26 is received in the groove 12. When the closure is properly 'seated the shoulder 18 of the closure snaps beneath the shoulder 30 of the container and the underside ll) of the closure wall will seat on the shoulder 28 of the container.

Being made of flexible material the walls 14 and 16 of the closure will snugly embrace the sides of the rim 26 and together with the engaging shoulders there is provided a tight non-leakable seal between the closure and the container.

The closure may be so formed that the walls 14 and 16 converge slightly downwardly or inner faces of said walls may converge towards one another slightly to enhance frictionally embracing the walls of the rim of the receptacle.

The closure is readily removed from the container by lifting against the lower lip of the closure wall 14 with the fingers.

There is no substantial distortion of the closure in applying or removing it from the container. That is the construction is such as to provide the embracing and engaging of the parts without unduly distorting the closure so that the sealing function is not impaired.

The construction lends itself for various uses such as for foods in refrigerators, lunch boxes and the like and the seal means is such as to preserve foods over a long period of time.

The receptacle and cover may be made in various shapes and sizes and the materials from which made may be of various colors and combinations of colors.

The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the essential characteristics thereof. Hence, the present embodiments are therefore to be considered in all respects merely as being illustrative and not as being restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claim rather than by the foregoing description, and all modifications and variations as fall within the meaning and purview and range of equivalency of the appended claim are therefore intended to be embraced therein.

What it is desired to claim and secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

A container and closure therefor, said container being formed from relatively rigid material and having an upwardly extending side wall with an upper termination in the form of a continuous'rim extending therearound, the rim extending upwardly from the side wall and being offset outwardly relative thereto and cooperating therewith to provide a substantially flat annular shoulder inwardly of the rim at the upper side of the side wall and a substantially flat outer annular shoulder outwardly of the side wall disposed in a plane below the plane of the fiat annular shoulder, said closure being formed from stretchable distortable plastic material and having a central portion provided with a marginal portion for seating engagement with the inner shoulder of said container and with a peripheral bead on the upper side thereof,

the bead having 'an' upwardly extending inner wall and a'd'ownwardly extending outer wall forming a slot therebetween for receiving the rim of said container and embracing. inner and .outer sides thereof, the outer wall of the bead having a 'loweredge extendingbelow the outer shoulder of said container and providedwith an annular manually engageable lip portion engageable beneath the outer shoulder ofsaid container.

References Cited in the file of this patent 1,649,213 L672313 694ss1 z4sz400 zsoasss L614J27 10 2,669,369

UNITED STAIES PATENTS Bornarth Nov. 15, Grunwald June 5, Glass Dec. 11, Tupper Nov. 8, Hill u Aug. 12, Robinson Oct. 21,

Towns Feb. 16, 

